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The Other Flower of Dusk
This story is by IcewrathXFeatherswirlXCraneheart for Red's contest. "Here, Cloudshade. I found some berries in the forest and thought you might like them," Duskflower meowed through a mouthful of assorted berries. She set them down in front of the SkyClan medicine cat, Cloudshade. Cloudshade smiled, "Thank you, Duskflower. Some of these will come in handy." Duskflower turned and a worried expression spread on her face, "Are some of them bad berries? Oh my gosh, I was so sure..." "No, no, no. The berries are fine," Cloudshade laughed, licking her paw, "Here, look. Those purple berries are juniper berries. Those are used to heal." "Bellyaches, right?" Duskflower guessed. Cloudshade nodded and continued, "The blue ones, however, do not heal." Duskflower hung her head in shame. "But, they are edible. Try one if you like." Duskflower smiled at the medicine cat and sniffed a blue berry then took a bite. Juices flowed into her mouth sweet and sour on her tongue. ''Wow! ''Duskflower thought. "It's great!" she decided, "Maybe I should go get some more!" She bounced on her toes excitedly. "If we were to run out of prey, we could eat these yummy berries!" Cloudshade shrugged, "It's worth a try." With a skip, Duskflower bounded out of the den and headed across camp. "Hey, Herbflower!" a sneer rang out. Duskflower turned to see her lifelong crush Foxpelt bounding toward her. She didn't see why he had to be so mean to her though. "Hi, Foxpelt!" Duskflower felt her fur prickling with embarassment and she gave her black fur a lick, then turned her blue eyes on him. "Where are you headed?" Foxpelt snickered. "I'm going to get some berries for us to store and eat in case prey gets scarce during leafbare," she stammered, shuffling her paws. Foxpelt laughed in a mean way and turned to where the Clan was sharing tongues in the evening light, "Hey! Duskflower wants us to eat berries in leafbare!" "What a mouse-brain!" one cat called. Duskflower quaked in hurt and shrunk back. "If she wants to stuff herself with berries and force herbs upon us, she should just be another useless medicine cat!" another voice sneered. The whole Clan laughed. Duskflower felt tears spring to her eyes. "Enough!" Waspstar yowled. Duskflower ran out of the camp in tears and she picked berries until moonhigh, then she caught prey for a while. After that she picked berries until dawn again. Duskflower's eyeslids drooped as she sat next to her berry pile and prey pile when Cloudshade padded up to her. Duskflower looked up at her with bloodshot eyes and Cloudshade stroked her with her tail, "I heard what happened." Duskflower nodded. Cloudshade looked at Duskflower sympathectically, "I can help them realize that your difference is good..." "Really?" Duskflower asked, brightening a little. She picked her head up and looked at the medicine cat. Cloudshade nodded, "Here's what we will do. In the next battle, you will fight and no offense, you will fight badly." Duskflower shrugged. She knew she couldn't fight well and she didn't mind others saying so. "Then," Cloudshade went on, "I will disappear. They will be desperate for a medicine cat and they will turn to you. You will refuse for the first couple times, then give in. You will heal them as best as you can and Waspstar will tell them the importance of differences." "He knows about this?" Duskflower asked, growing more excited by the moment. Cloudshade nodded, "Then, I will come back. Hopefully, the Clan will appreciate your difference." "That sounds like a good plan. How do you know all this?" Cloudshade smiled, "Mothers just know things." Duskflower smiled back and helped Cloudeshade take the prey and berries back to camp. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ "SkyClan attack!" Waspstar yowled. The twoleg alley suddenly exploded with fighting rogues and SkyClan cats. Duskflower weaved around looking for an opponent, then she remembered the plan and vanished out of sight. Over the past moon, Cloudshade had decided that it was best that she didn't fight. She was going to heal others after all. She watched the cats and listened to the yowling, then she finally heard the retreat yowl. Duskflower burst from her hiding place and back to camp where she made it look like she had already fixed her wounds before they arrived back at camp. "Those fox-hearted rogues..." Foxpelt groaned wearily, swaying on his feet. All of the Clanmates seemed to have major injuries if not many minor ones. "Cloudshade!" one cat called. Cloudshade didn't come. "She's gone!" another screeched. "What now?" "We will all suffer!" Foxpelt fixed his amber gaze on her and waved his ginger tail at her. "Duskflower can do it!" The Clan started crowding around her desperately. Foxpelt padded up to her and stared at her with pleading eyes, "Please! You need to heal us!" "Why should I?" she asked. The Clan gasped and Foxpelt got even more desperate. Duskflower winced. She knew she would never mean a word she said in this refusal charade and it pained her to see them like this. "We'll suffer!" "What if I want you to suffer, Foxpelt?" Foxpelt's eyes grew wide and the Clan gasped more. "Don't do this, Duskflower! I need you!" Duskflower's heart warmed and she decided it was time to heal her Clanmates. She got up and took herbs from Cloudshade and started healing the cats as best as she could with the herbs. "Thank you, Duskflower," Foxpelt murmured, licking her cheek gratefully. Duskflower purred and turned her attention to Waspstar, who had called a meeting. Cloudshade was right next to him. "Today," he began, "we witnessed something extraordinary! I had Cloudshade disappear so you were able to see that Duskflower's difference can do us well, and to treat her well. She saved the Clan today. This, I hope, has taught you all a very important lesson: that it's okay to be different. Duskflower is a great hunter and she is great with herbs, yet she is still a warrior, is she not? If anything were to happen to Cloudshade, we can rest easy knowing that we are in the safe paws of a warrior with many knowledges." "Duskflower! Duskflower! Duskflower!" Foxpelt chanted. The Clan joined in the chanting and Duskflower beamed proudly. Finally, she had friends. Finally, she had someone that might love her. Finally, she was accepted. The End